Yukata
by Candy Stars
Summary: Sequel to Just Like In Comic Books. Hazel's trip to Japan ends up being a lot more complicated when she brings a new friend home. OCxRaph, OCxLeo. R&R and I will love you. FOREVER!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: YEAAAAH!! NEW STORY!! FINALLY!! YAY!! Everyone cheer!!

I don't own Ninja Turtles! But it would be super sweet if I did, wouldn't it?

--

"Hold on, facts are facts  
Just relax, lay low  
All right, the panic recedes:  
Nobody needs to know" – The Last 5 Years

--

It had been months since Hazel's father had disappeared from her life. Somehow, her and her mother managed to get through it, though every day was a mess. Her mother always seemed far away, even when they spoke. Most of the time, she didn't bother. Hazel couldn't stand her mother's cold shoulder, so she spent the majority of her free time with the turtles. And now that school was over for the year, that became more and more time.

"Guess what?" Hazel smiled as she came in one afternoon. She slunk down beside Raph and rest her hand on his, "I'm going on a trip!"

"Where?" Leo and Donnie asked simultaneously.

"With who?" Raph growled, putting his arm around her.

"Are you gonna bring me something?" Mikey blurted.

Hazel giggled and blushed slightly.

"I'm going to Japan." She looked over at Raph and giggled again. "With my _mother_." Raph relaxed a little, and she nodded to Mikey.

"Why're you going?" asked Donnie.

"My mom wants to visit to put herself at peace," Hazel explained. "She's got some bad feelings about it, and she doesn't want me to feel badly about it either." She shrugged. "But… I can't stay here long. I have to pack." She sighed. "I'm only going to be a week, though." She hugged Raph and stood.

"Bye you guys!" She smiled and left after their goodbyes.

Hazel took breaks in her packing, painting her walls yet again. She couldn't decide on a colour, so it kept changing.

"I noticed your walk wasn't very long today," her mom leaned on the door.

"I'm… saving my energy for Japan!" Her mother nodded.

"I'll be doing the laundry. I'll bring yours up when it's done."

"Thanks." The door closed and it was quiet again, but not for long. Hazel jumped at the sound of something hitting her window. She dropped her brush and rushed over, opening the window.

"Painting. _Again._" Raph climbed into the room.

"Shh," Hazel whispered. "Mom's downstairs." She took her stereo and placed it by the door, playing music out of the room. "That should block us out."

"A whole week, huh?" Raph rubbed the side of his head.

"It could've been longer, right?" Hazel smiled at him.

"Still, what if the Foot came after you again there, Haze?" Raph sighed.

"I-I'll be fine!" Hazel looked down. "M-My dad's with them now, so they d-don't have much reason to… to…" Her eyes filled with tears and she flung herself at Raph, sobbing.

"Shhh. What if your mom heard? Then I'd be done for." He smirked at her, sitting beside her on the edge of her bed. Hazel wiped her eyes with her finger and laughed a little.

"She'll get you locked up in a convent and I'll never see you, or somethin'…"

"Hey, she's not _that_ bad! She'd… probably… just start screaming."

"So where're you goin' in Japan?"

"Um… I have no idea." Hazel admitted.

"Just don't become one of those girls with the frilly things, 'kay?" Hazel laughed again.

"Is that what you came to tell me?"

"Couldn't let you leave without sayin' bye first…" Hazel smiled and crawled into his lap. Things had changed since she met him. She wasn't so shy anymore.

"I wanna say bye too." She leaned in and began to kiss him.

The door swung open.

"Hazel, do you need—" The clothes in Hazel's mother's hands dropped around her. Hazel jumped away from Raph, her face as red as the mask he wore.  
"Bye Haze," he mumbled quickly as he slipped out the window. The room fell silent.

"Honey, umm…."

"He's… a mutant. Yeah." Hazel sighed, "B-But… he's really a nice guy, mom…" Her mother ran her fingers through her hair.

"Oh dear… All the time, I thought you were a le—"

"Mom!" Hazel blurted.

"Sorry, honey, this is just… so…"

"You can't tell _anyone_, mom. Not a soul. If someone found out about them, they'd be shoved into labs a-and dissected!" Hazel's eyes watered.

"I won't. I promise. But I'm going to have a talk with this… young man. Understand? I have boundaries for you two--"

"Packing! Leave! Now!" Soon, Hazel was alone again. She watched out her window a while, but no one came. Eventually, she gave up and went to sleep.

The flight to Japan was long, and Hazel felt tortured every second of it. Half of her worried about the trip itself. She'd studied Japanese in school for years, but never had to actually use it when she couldn't use English. But as much as she wanted to study, she couldn't focus. The other half of her worried about Raph. What if he was afraid he'd been found out, and didn't want to speak to her? She should have made a last stop, she couldn't stand not knowing. The taxi ride to the hotel was quiet on Hazel's side, but her mother chatted with the driver almost nonstop. By the time she got there, she knew exactly what she had to do.

"I'm going to look around," Hazel nodded, putting her bags down. "I'll be back later."

"Mmhmm," her mother rolled onto the bed and went to sleep.

Hazel stepped outside the room and closed the door. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a long string of numbers. After it rang many times, a groggy voice answered.

"Huh?"

"R-Raph?" whimpered Hazel.

"Kid, it's two thirty in the morning…" He groaned, "What is it?"

"S-Sorry, I…" Hazel sighed. "I was just worried that… Last night… When—"

"Slow down. I'm half asleep." Raph rubbed his head and yawned. "What about last night?"

"W-When my mom came in and…"

"What'd she say?"

"I-I told her not to tell… But she wants to talk to you when we get back."

"Damn… Is that all you called for?"

"I-I just wanted to make sure you weren't mad…" Hazel's face flushed. A businessman walked past her.

"Okay." Hazel smiled. "I-I love you…"

"Love you too, Haze. Stop worrying."

"I will. Bye…"  
"See ya." Hazel shut her phone and hoped the charge for the call wouldn't completely kill her budget. She put it in her purse and went down to the lobby and walked outside. Something caught her eye down the block at once. A kimono shop! Hazel's face lit up, and she scrambled through the sea of people, not caring that she stood out like a sore thumb. As she reached the store, she pushed the door open.

Two figures instantly stopped their argument. The older woman gasped, turning pale. The other froze, and Hazel herself was surprised to see the furry young woman.

--

Candy Stars: ALREADY A CLIFFHANGER? Of course! It's me we're talking about, the queen of suspense. (Yeah right!)

I know the beginning kinda sucks (in my opinion) but I hope it'll be as good as its prequel :D Please review. Reviews made the last story so much more fun!


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: …Oh goodness, guys! I didn't mean to leave off the story for that long! ;_; you still love me, right?

TMNT doesn't belong to me… obviously!

"When the sky turns grey and there's no end in sight

When I can't sleep through the lonely night

I turn to you- like a flower leaning toward the sun" – Melanie C

--

The young woman was covered in fluffy white fur, save for her black ears, nose, and mouth, along with black circles around her dark eyes. Black paws peeked out of long kimono sleeves. Hazel frowned. A panda? Immediately, she ran into a back room without a word, and the older, human woman stepped forward.

"Please," she begged, "I don't have much money- but I will make you a fine kimono… if you swear not to tell of what you've seen here. Please…"

Hazel opened her mouth, trying to think of the right words. Her Japanese was a little broken.

"My friends- they are same way. Sort of. I understand…"

"Please, explain." She leaned on the counter. Hazel blushed- she wasn't confident in her explaining abilities in _English_, let alone Japanese. She cleared her throat and looked down at the floor.

"Um… my friends. They were…" She tried to think of how to say _mutated._ It wasn't really a common conversational word. "…Changed. From animals. They are turtles shaped like people." Her face was completely red now.

"I think I understand… Li Mei!" she called, and slowly the panda girl came back into the front room, humiliated.

"Speak in English with her, please."  
"Yes ma'am." Li Mei looked at Hazel. "Hello."

"Hi… I-I was just saying…"

"You have friends like me."

"Yes- well, in New York, where I live…"

"I've always wanted to go back to America. I was born there… before any of this happened."

"What… what happened?" Li Mei sighed, looking at the clock.

"Perhaps we should sit down and explain all of this over tea."

A few minutes later, they were all in the back room sitting together. Hazel sipped carefully at her tea, not wanting to burn her tongue.

"I was just… a regular panda in a zoo. After that… I'm not so sure what happened. Some sort of genetic experimentation." Li Mei shuddered. "They brought me to Japan since that was where their headquarters was. They left me to die after that."

"How awful… Who did this to you?"

"I have no idea. Like I said- I don't quite remember what happened. Masako saved me." She smiled. "That's another story, though."

"I wish I could introduce you to my friends… but it's a little difficult to get non-humans out of the country… let alone a bunch of them." Hazel grimaced.

"This is JUST why I think we should move there!" sighed Li Mei. "To be with ones like me…"

"And how will we get you there, my dear?" Masako scoffed, setting her tea cup down. "It wouldn't exactly be easy."

"Well— no, but… it's possible." Hazel bit her lip, squinting at Li Mei and nodding, going into artist-mode. "A little makeup… A veil, of course. Very conservative clothing. Call it a traditional, personal matter, right?"

"It's still a gamble." Masako frowned.

"So is staying here!" huffed Li Mei. "There we have a fresh start. There we know there are others like me!"

"And lots of tourists come to New York! They'd love your kimonos," smiled Hazel. Masako let out a heavy sigh.

"I will consider." Li Mei smiled wide at Hazel, who smiled back.

"Well… it was very nice to meet you both. But… I have to go for today. My mother might worry. I'll be back though, I promise!" She bowed her head and turned to leave.

"Hazel," Li Mei called. Hazel turned back around.

"Thank you," she said in English. Hazel nodded to her with a grin and went on her way back to her hotel. On the way, she couldn't help but think about how Li Mei had become the way she was. Who could have done such a thing? She walked into the foyer of the hotel. She wasn't even sure how the turtles had become the way _they_ were. Somehow, it'd just seemed inappropriate to ask… But now she was curious. She shrugged to herself as she got into the elevator. There would be plenty of time to ask about that when she got home in about a week.

When she reached her room, Hazel found a small note from her mother on her bed.

_Gone out. Be back later. Love you. – Mom_

Hazel shrugged. Not a big deal- they were on vacation, after all. She hopped up onto her bed and stretched out, turning on the television. A silly game show was on, and Hazel watched for a while before she fell asleep.

She awoke in the middle of the night- 3:15, her clock said. Her mother still wasn't around. She whimpered, wondering what time it would be in New York. She pulled out her phone and looked at the international time chart. It was evening there. She began to dial the numbers.

"Hey?"

"Hi Raph," whimpered Hazel into the dark room, lit only by the tiny light from her phone.

"What's wrong, kid?"

"Oh! Nothing- nothing really. Well, my mom's not around and it's really late so I just… needed someone to talk to."

"Huh. Must be pretty late there…" There was a pause. "So?"

"I met an interesting person today."

"Mmhmm," Raph mumbled.

"A mutant."

"You're kidding!"

"No… she's a panda. She doesn't remember what happened though. But… they're thinking of moving to America."  
"And you told them about us, right?" Raph grumbled. Hazel said nothing. "You did."

"Just a little…" she mumbled. "Only- only that I had friends who were mutants. That's all."

"God damn… Never mind. It's fine." He sighed. "Guess I'm just paranoid."

"I don't think they really will- the lady who takes care of her doesn't want to… I'm… sorry."

"Don't be, okay? I don't know why the hell I'm worried about some Japanese people. I've got enough to worry about here."

"I guess so…"

"You'd better sleep, okay? Don't get all worried about me if I'm not around."

Hazel frowned. "Okay… I—"

"You're cutting out—Haze? Ha—" Silence.

Hazel sunk down on her bed and sniffled.

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Candy Stars: …Sorry. Boring. Please read and review! I missed you guys! C:


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